Traditional Internet Protocol (IP) networks have evolved from providing best effort service to providing guaranteed quality of service (QoS) levels for end users. Existing methods of providing high levels of QoS are not always adequate in the voice over IP (VOIP) domain. Prior art call admission control (CAC) generally allows or disallows calls to be set up based on the number of current calls and expected call loading. Thus, such control is not generally based upon QoS measurements of the actual network performance. By measuring the actual QoS network performance parameters at appropriate locations using known QoS factors in real-time, new calls may be limited and/or redirected, thereby providing the desired or needed quality for existing calls and future calls.
Accordingly, there is needed an apparatus and method for using real-time QoS information from one or more points in the network to adapt the bandwidth limit relative to network performance.